THE IMPACT OF GREEN CERTIFICATION QUALITY ON THE EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS OF SMALL AND PRIVATE BUSINESSES IN DEVELOPING MARKETS: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM UZBEKISTAN

Annotatsiya

The accelerating global shift toward sustainable trade, reinforced by mechanisms such as the European Union Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and eco-labeling schemes including ISO 14001 and GlobalGAP, has placed unprecedented pressure on exporting firms in developing economies to demonstrate credible environmental performance. Small and private enterprises in transition economies frequently respond to these pressures through superficial or "paper" certification rather than substantive operational transformation, a pattern that may undermine the durability of their export gains. This study investigates whether the quality of green certification implementation, rather than mere binary possession of a certificate, determines export competitiveness among small and private enterprises in Uzbekistan. Using a structured survey of 200 export-oriented enterprises in the textile, agri-food, and light manufacturing sectors, the study constructs a multi-item Green Certification Implementation Quality Index capturing operational integration, internal auditing rigor, and workforce training. Multiple Ordinary Least Squares and Tobit regression models are estimated, controlling for firm size, age, digital intensity, and managerial education. The results demonstrate that implementation quality exerts a statistically significant positive effect on export intensity, market diversification, and revenue growth, whereas binary certification status alone shows a markedly weaker and, in some specifications, statistically insignificant association. These findings indicate that symbolic compliance yields diminishing returns in international markets that increasingly scrutinize substantive environmental performance. The study concludes with policy recommendations for linking certification subsidies to independently verified implementation quality and for strengthening export-support agencies’ capacity to audit environmental management depth rather than certificate possession alone, thereby aligning national green trade policy with the substantive standards increasingly demanded by international buyers.